Ups And Downs

Hi guys.. it is Thursday here and I am hunkered down in my house waiting for Hurricane Earl to strike at any moment... Actually I'm not, but that's ok! To all the people down in the Carolinas or anywhere Earl has visited, I hope you are staying safe! We are only supposed to get a lot of rain and a lot of wind. The last time we had a hurricane "strike" up here was Hurricane Bob- August 19th 1992. Please.. someone ask me how that date is so near and dear to my heart :)

So it's been hot. Agonizingly hot again and once again, I am suffering the effects of the air quality- wheezing and coughing- gross! Asthma, I hate you! So yesterday was especially hot and I decided, never mind the heat, I will work out in the gym at work.

Cue the violins...

I thought that I forgot my socks at 11:15 am. Planned to do yoga in the gym..

At 11:25 am, I found my socks and my big ole sweatpants that I grabbed instead of my shorts. Not great, but still ok for some biking..

At 11:35 am, I was in the gym, just about to sit down on the recumbent bike (my favorite place in the gym), when one of the engineers in my building came in. You know the type, skinny, geeky, wears his work shirt, basketball shorts, black socks, and sneakers that looked like they survived Pearl Harbor. (and he did too)

This MF sits right next to me on the other bike in the gym.

Never mind, the treadmill, the elliptical, OR the fact that I KNOW this guy "lifts" weights. He sits right next to me. Did I mention he smells bad????

I got up off the bike and went outside, muttering to myself about what a jerk he was.. Doesn't he realize he stinks and looks like a nerd crossed with a homeless man?

It was HOT. BIG MISTAKE. I should have sucked it up inside. But I was craving cardio and cardio I got. I almost fainted it was so hot. (A trivia side note, a major football team in the area stays at the hotel next door to my building) I really thought I was going to die. A couple of players drove past me in their tricked out Land Rovers and Escalades. I swear, if I were any less of a woman I would have collapsed crossing my fingers some burly football player would give me mouth to mouth. Then I remembered I am engaged and I don't think Charlie would like it if I got smooched by some hot big guy... Damn you conscience!!!

But I survived (duh) and was left with a major headache for the rest of the day. Oh God it was a rough afternoon. I drank so much water I could have floated home and somehow mustered up enough energy to make myself some really awesome shrimp.

The potatoes were these:

They were NOT as good as I make them! But they sufficed for a nice easy carb serving. (I could have had a bowl of cereal you know..)

Oh and one more FUNNY thing. My grandmother turned 830 today (just kidding, 83) and she went ahead and bought herself a birthday cake two days early on Monday. She had them put her name on it.
Her name is PALMA. But with her heavy Boston accent, she calls herself PALMER. OH GRAM!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well all my cousins thought it was hysterical.. and my mom made me take a picture of it. I feel bad for laughing about it, but she's a tough old lady, she'll probably out-live me.. I think she can take it!

I hope everyone has a great weekend ahead of them! With all the rain scheduled for tomorrow night, it's a good night to stay home and watch CAMP ROCK 2. Yes, I am 28 years old and yes, I LOVE the Disney Channel! No shame ladies!!!
And thank you for all your comments on my last post- STRONG STRONG STRONG.. :)

Bridal Shower

**I tried to post this yesterday.. Blogger was messed up- ARGH**

Noooo.. not mine.. I am forgoing the chaos and craziness that is a bridal shower for myself- I am traditional of course in wanting to get married- but shoot I'll be darned if I have people fuss over me and worry about what color I want balloons to be or whether I would like cheesecake or angel food cake.. (angel food cake... LOL) I can't stand being the center of attention; anyone else get really anxious when people fawn all over them??

Anyway, my friend Hannah is getting married and I couldn't be happier for her! Look at how beautiful she is!

Her shower was on Saturday afternoon. And yes, I know what a slacker I am for not posting about this sooner- sheer laziness! The shower was nothing short of amazing. My friend Jillian is a corporate party planner and has two Masters degrees; one in Hotel & Resturant Management and one in Sports Management. Plus she has an Event Planning certificate. Basically, she knows what the hell she is doing. Here is her work. Sit back and be amazed dears.. lots o' pictures!





Simply put, it was fabulous! I loved everything about it.. the food was good, the cake and cupcakes were sooooo good! Everyone had a good time.

I even won a prize! A Vera Bradley wallet to put in my already overflowing bag. I won the wallet in a "how much stuff do you have in your bag" contest. Obviously, I have a lot of stuff.. yes including the flip flops!!

So here is a picture of me.. please note, I am STILL white as a ghost and I really really need to cut my hair! But I am noticing that my arms are getting really muscular. Here in lies the problem with me. My ED is telling me that my arms are HUGE. Too big for me.. when I'm not sure that they really are.. I don't know.. but when I saw the picture I was flipping out inside.. and I shouldn't be.. Strong strong strong.. I need to repeat that over and over again!




Questions:
1. what's in your purse??
2. do you have any trouble when you go to parties NOT eating everything in sight?

I'm Over It

Holy crap.. I am totally over this rain! It's been raining since Sunday here in RI and I'm getting SO tired of it! Today I am off from work, so it was nice to sleep in a little bit- you know.. till 7! That's sleeping in for me now :)

Just to let you guys know.. that Abs and Arms DVD is a killer workout! I've done it a few times since then, and it's incredible. I'm definitely going to have to post up some pictures for you all. I always hesitate to do that because I don't want to look like I'm showing off, but shoot- if I have killer arms, you better believe I'm showing those babies off!

Alright.. so another confession- I'm over SALAD. Over it. Done. Done. Don't wanna eat it anymore! If you've been reading you know that I was on a salad kick there for a little bit, but I think I have lettuced myself out. Maybe it's the gloomy weather but when I look at those lettuce leaves I just feel blah! And that's ok by me!

I'm not sure what else to tell you about for food... but... I did forget to tell you what I got for my birthday! A new hair straightener!! So awesome! I love it.. My hair is naturally kinky-wavy and I usually straighten it every other day. I have been using a hair straightener that I bought in HIGH SCHOOL. It would be un-remarkable if I had graduated 2 years ago.. but I graduated 10 years ago.. Therefore.. amazing! But it's been on the fritz and when Peanut asked me what I wanted for my b-day I hinted that my hair was on the fritz too. LOL She got it!


This past weekend Peanut was in a play at church. She played David in David and Goliath! So adorable! It was really cute.. the kids did a good job. The tallest guy who goes to my church was Goliath.. he's 6'7" compared to Peanut's 4'1".. so it was pretty funny watching her sling a "rock" at his head!

Anyway, like I said, I am off today and it's pouring, so we'll see what happens for the day!
The plan is to go to Borders later for some hot chocolate and books.. : )

Whats your plan for this dreary Wednesday??

Skip The Gym & Eat Your Fishies

Hi all.. how's everyone doing so far this weekend? Not much going on here.. thanks for all the birthday wishes! I was trying to keep the fact that it was my birthday a little hush hush.. but shoot you guys figured me out! LOL! I "know" too many people in real life I guess!

Well, what's going on in your next of the woods?? Mine is pretty clear :)

So I told you the other day that I got a $50 gift card to Amazon.com right? Well, one of the things I bought was an Exhale: Core Fusion Arms and Abs DVD. Strong is the new Skinny right?? Holy moley- I couldn't believe how hard this one was! I loved it! It came with a bright green resistance band to do some of the exercises. If you already have one, you can use yours.


The DVD is set up with 5 ten minute sections each one harder than the last. I was planning on only doing the first 20 minutes and instead I kept going! I'm pretty sure that my abs have never had a workout like this before.. and my arms have been aching ever since I finished the moves.. Holey Moley!

Strong is the new Skinny people.. seriously! I can already tell that if I can keep working on this DVD, I will for sure be getting alot stronger- without even using heavy weights or doing crazy gym workouts. All I used was that dang resistance band and a mat!

So what was on my menu this weekend? Fish. Fish fish fish. Can you tell that I love fish? I suppose I should start calling myself a pescatarian (a veggie lover who eats fish too) but I hate labels, so I'll just call myself a fish lover!

Fish Night #1

Salmon.. bought from Target in a bag... topped with olive oil, garlic powder, a pinch of salt & pepper and cracked red pepper. Yummy! Served with sweet potato fries!
Fish Night #2

More salmon, from the same bag of frozen fish.. expect to see alot of this ok?? This time topped with BBQ sauce, served with fresh green beans steamed and sprinkled with a little garlic salt. See? It's not too hard to get healthy eats in a pinch. Both meals literally took 16 minutes from start to finish! (including cooking time)
I totally understand that I am not one of the most creative bloggers out there. There are other bloggers who just absolutely kill it in the kitchen, and every day I really really want to be like them! But I'm not, I'm a lazy cook, limited in my food choices due to my food sensitivities. However- I still enjoy my food.. and now you know how easy it is to make healthy food choices and not just curl up with a bowl of cereal (of which I am VERY guilty!!!!)

Well, I hope you all are having a great weekend!! Let me know how you are doing please!!!!

And That's When I Snapped

Hey y'all.... how are you all! I'm doing ok.. I'm here at work.. desperately trying to find the time to write this..

Can you believe I was supposed to have the day off today? It's a national holiday in my book! But a couple of people at work had emergencies and the pressure went onto me to save the day. Naturally, I did. So here I am tired, slightly hung over, and pretty grumpy.

So let's start.. with yesterday.. I found out that I had to work today and I immediately got upset. Who gets called back from a day off to work?? Oh yea.. ME! So I did what any normal person would do when they get bad news..
I went to Borders and got an indulgent coffee drink. Complete with caffeine.

Let me tell you something. I felt like a smoker who has their first cigarette after not smoking for months.. (I only say that because I have been there too) I felt.. instantly better, then a little nervous and then guilty for liking the buzz that came with this. I'm glad I did it... it tasted great. You can't say that about smoking! ;)

The good news was I still was able to keep the plans I had made for dinner yesterday. I am sorry I didn't get any pictures of the dinner! I was with a co-worker (the same one who bought me a bottle of tequila and nominated me for an award..) and obviously work does not know about the blog- so I kept my camera in my bag (begrudgingly too- my dinner was great!) We went to Skipjacks and I had the Mahi-Mahi. The good news was, it was awesome. The bad news was it was $22! I could make at least 8 servings of my dinner for $22. The only other good news is, I didn't pay for dinner.

I did do two things though. Have too much to drink and then whipped out my camera to take pictures of the sunset. Obviously, my nervousness about my camera faded with the wine.. but I think the momentary embarrassment was worth it.

Wasn't it beautiful???
(with flash..)
(without flash..)
Which one do you like better? I have a "sunset" feature on my camera, I'm not sure which is prettier! They are both gorgeous!

Anyway- so the night moved onto the local dive bar, where two shots later, I was practically begging to go home. But I "hitched" a ride to my friends house (ladies.. don't drink and drive!) where she took us to a place near her house. I didn't snap any pictures there, I'm sure I looked like a hot mess, but we had fun. She is hysterical and she and her brothers kept me laughing all night long.

This morning was painful getting up. After all, it was supposed to be my day off.

But this little thing made me feel a lot better.


Thanks to all the new readers for commenting on my last post, I am trying to get caught up on blogs. Perhaps after work tonight while I'm recovering from last night still. Love you all!!!!!! Happy Thursday!!

Snackity Snack

Hi all, I am back! I'm hoping that I can post a little more this week! We have a couple of people out on vacation this week, and that always stirs up some trouble.. but I'll just roll with the punches :)

This post will be short and sweet as I can manage because I need to get some cleaning done that I didn't do yesterday! Sunday is usually my cleaning day but I took a long nap in the afternoon. On Saturday I spent wayyyy too much time out in the sun and my chest is BRIGHT red. Like Red Sox red. That hasn't happened in forever! I feel bad for myself, but then again, I should know better! Idiot! But I have a tan on my legs, I feel that the ever elusive leg tan makes up for the pain of the chest!!!

So the weekend..... no big plans, but the Peanut and I had a good time! We had plans early in the morning for her with a play date and I dropped her off and then spent the two hours catching up with a friend of mine. Oh adult time is sooooo treasured these days!

Then we hit up Whole Foods and I bought this... YUMMMMMMM in store made Peanut Butter. I have a serious problem with peanut butter.. It's like my life force. But that's ok, protein is protein!


I put a blob in my oatmeal....holy wow! It looks like it's a small blob, but it's really not- all hidden under there!
Saturday afternoon we went to the petting zoo, taking a bag of carrots with us to feed the animals. And here's what we fed ourselves with..

Pretty decent snackage no?? I love plantain chips for sure!!! They are so freakin' awesome!
When we were at the petting zoo, we were attacked by savage goats. Look at these guys, practically beating the fence down trying to get to our carrots! SAVAGES!!

We saw some pretty interesting animals (well, they haven't changed much since we were there last.. but still.. lol) I pet the horse and the horse and I had a "moment" It was cute... Haha..
So like I said, I spent half of Sunday sleeping. I needed it!

Today- I made some shrimp. Can you tell I love seafood?? I made this with garlic, pepper, and wheat free tamari- simple and easy. Looks good right??


In terms of workouts, I'm still going strong and would you believe I'm already seeing a difference in my muscles?? I can't either, I'll have to post some pictures up at some point! Too bad I didn't do before and after shots! Ha!

Well, it's almost bedtime for me.. a few more minutes of Facebook stalking and then it's a wrap! Have an awesome Tuesday!
Oh and congrats to Anthony, son of my girl Katie.. it was his first day of school today- ummm Peanut doesn't start for another 3 weeks! Wow!

Friday Night

Happy Friday everyone! Oh goodness, I can't believe how fast the week flew by- seriously! I woke up today and realized it was almost the weekend and I got sooo excited! Not like I have HUGE plans, but I just get excited when I remember that I don't have to go into work. :)

Thanks for the congrats on the award! Ameena, you would not really want to come and see me at work! We don't sell anything that anyone would want, except every single manufacturing plant in the US. We sell parts that run plants, and I just spoke to someone today who told me that our parts help run the MBTA in Boston! So the next time my Boston readers get on the T you can think of me! Please don't curse me if something bad happens though!

So anyway, moving onto more important things in life.. My Strong is the New Skinny campaign.. I have been working my butt off all week long for it and with ANOTHER award I got at work (yesssssssss.. I've been feeling so special all week long!) a $50 gift card to Amazon.com, I got 3 new workout DVDs. Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and two Core Fusion DVDs. I can't wait to try them and focus on getting STRONGER.

That way I can whoop y'alls butts someday! Hopefully next week things will calm down a little bit at work so I can post more often!

OK- my food! Just two meals I had, not ALL of them.


This was so awesome. I loved it.. too good. The salmon cake was a little bit on the spicy side and the pilaf was a bit chewy.. but- overall a big YUM from me!

And this is what my mom made for dinner tonight. MY GOYA RICE. And MY SHRIMP. Glad to be giving food to my moms! Ha!


Other than that.. the weekend will be spent sunning, sleeping, and (window) shopping. My favorite things to do! I'll probably finish reading a couple of books!
What are YOU doing this weekend??